George Shearing Quintet MGM Era on CD?

[HutchFan]

2 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

My memory is correct - missing are two tracks. 

 - I Hear A Rhapsody from the March 12, 1953 session (Tjader's first with Shearing)

- Mambo Inn from the March 28, 1954 session (the last with Tjader)

All other tracks of Shearing with Tjader are on these two LPs. Six sessions with four tracks each, totalling 24. 22 are on those two LPs. 

Thanks for confirming, Mike.   

I already have Shearing in Hi-Fi.  I need to get A Shearing Caravan.

 

[Big Beat Steve]

13 hours ago, mikeweil said:

That review Big Beat Steve posted is a typical example of the hard swinging jazz police. No ear for the intricate arrangements. 

Not so, Mike. Around the very same time the same magazine carried a very appreciative feature on Red Norvo and his (then) recent recordings and appearances. Not something you would rank under "hard swing", isn't it? Rather something that can be filed under intricate arrangements too. Besides, 1954 wasn't (yet?) the apex of "hard swing", least of all heavily cool-influenced Sweden. And I find "police" a fairly inappropriate term in this context anyway. (By that yardstick, what and who else would then have to be labeled "jazz police" as well in accordance with whatever trends and "must-likes" reared their heads in the jazz press through the years and were considered to be desirable in jazz to the exclusion of other styles and approaches?)  Anyway ...I cannot see that Orkester Journalen was "police"-ish about what they considered jazz worthy to be written about.  
Beyond that, of course reviewers have their preferences and dislikes (at all times, and aren't these sometimes conflicting approaches part of the charm and interest of what is and has been written about jazz?), and clearly the over-the-top title of the album grated the reviewer(s). Looking back, the review IMO should not be taken all that seriously and as the definite statement but in the context of its times and a (supposed) approach of "what is the buyer going to get?" it does make some sense, not least of all because it was reviewed in the jazz and not in the pop section of the mag.
After all - let's face it - George Shearing at all times walked a fine line between more straight-ahead chamber jazz and supper club popular audience appeal (even in his MGM days). Jazz listeners had to face up to the fact: Like it or not but deal with it.
FWIW, to my surprise I discovered last night (after posting that review) that in fact I DO own that LP. What had got me mixed up was that the review referred to the 8-track 10" release (which I never had, contrary to "You're Hearing George Shearing") whereas I do have the somewhat later 12-track 12" release under the same title in my racks. So I guess I'll spin it later today to refresh my recollections (otherwise I most often pull out the Verve twofer for MGM Shearing).

Edited February 23, 2022 by Big Beat Steve

[Gheorghe]

It seems that over here, or from the generation I´m from or having learned „my stuff“ mostly from playing musicians, it seems that George Shearing as a player was less mentioned.

The only „touch“ I ever had was, when I was browsing through Wes Montgomery albums, since from the older style of guitar I loved and still love Wes and Kenny Burrell.

So I bought this one, without knowing who is George Shearing. 

I think I sold it shortly afterwards, since it didn´t exite me the same way "So Much Guitar" or "The Incredible Guitar for Wes Montgomery" exited me. 

My constant "touch" with Shearing is two of his compositions: "Conception" and "Lullaby of Birdland". I did "Conception" in the changed form Miles Davis wrote, with that pedal point in it, in the key of C, if I played it with horns, or in the AABA form in Db if I played it trio or solo. Nice tune, nice changes, easy to play. 
Or "Lullaby" as a set closer, or in f minor with horns or singer, or in a minor in trio....

[Teasing the Korean]

20 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Thanks for confirming, Mike.   

I already have Shearing in Hi-Fi.  I need to get A Shearing Caravan.

Be aware that if you get Evening with for "Mambo Inn," side 1 on every copy I've ever had runs at a woefully slow speed. You will need to either speed-correct it, or you can buy a lossless version from Qobuz running at the correct speed.

7 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

It seems that over here, or from the generation I´m from or having learned „my stuff“ mostly from playing musicians, it seems that George Shearing as a player was less mentioned.

If you're approaching Shearing from strictly a playing standpoint, you're missing what was important about those early records.  It was the arrangements, the distinctive piano block chord sound with the guitar and vibes, the reharmonizations, the reinvented melodies, and the surprising codas.  Considering how polarizing bebop was at that time, it is pretty remarkable that Shearing was able to attain such wide popularity playing familiar tunes with such a boppish melodic approach, particularly with regard to how the melodies were reinvented.

Shearing was a also an early non-Latino proponent of Latin Jazz.  Those records inspired Cal Tjader to go in a Latin Jazz direction.  Additionally, Al McKibbon, Shearing's then-bassist, was one of the first non-Latino jazz bassists to become fluent in Latin bass patterns.

So these records are really about the group sound, not about the piano player.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Teasing the Korean

[HutchFan]

2 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Be aware that if you get Evening with for "Mambo Inn," side 1 on every copy I've ever had runs at a woefully slow speed. You will need to either speed-correct it, or you can buy a lossless version from Qobuz running at the correct speed.

Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[JSngry]

21 hours ago, HutchFan said:

I already have Shearing in Hi-Fi. 

That record must have been a bit of a hit in its time. I got a copy out of a Goodwill in the late 70s and have seen so many copies since then, I've lost count.

What's a good price for that red box? I'm really not all that much into it, but for a good price, I could give it a shot, especially for a Denzil Best Immersion.

[Teasing the Korean]

17 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Thanks for the heads-up.

You're welcome!  I seriously believe that they did 78 transfers at 45 rpm, with the idea that they would be corrected later, but it never happened.

7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

What's a good price for that red box? I'm really not all that much into it, but for a good price, I could give it a shot, especially for a Denzil Best Immersion.

Under $40.  About 100 tracks.  If you want some cocktail recipes to go with it, I will share them with you free of charge.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Teasing the Korean

[JSngry]

Sorry, my drinking days (and nights...and afternoons) are behind me.

I still like to look at the colors though. Especially the ones that look like hair tonic.

[Teasing the Korean]

3 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Sorry, my drinking days (and nights...and afternoons) are behind me.

I still like to look at the colors though. Especially the ones that look like hair tonic.

Then I can send you some virgin cocktail recipes.  It's all about the presentation, as it was with the Quintet.

[HutchFan]

4 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I still like to look at the colors though. Especially the ones that look like hair tonic.

[JSngry]

3 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Ace Cannon would swallow first, ask questions when he woke up.

5 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Then I can send you some virgin cocktail recipes. 

Do that, please! Just nothing sweet.

[Teasing the Korean]

9 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Do that, please! Just nothing sweet.

My brother-in-law stopped drinking, and he has been looking into non-alcoholic spirits.  He says that there are some very good non-alcoholic bourbons out there.  I have not tried them.  Have you explored any of these, assuming you have any interest in doing so?

[JSngry]

I haven't no. Drinking, smoking, and drugs are all just things I used to do, and when I quit something, be it person, place, or thing, I just totally quit. Done with it.

Trying to do the same thing with sweets right now, but...might be my downfall, that one. We'll see. Just turned 66, so it's not like it's gone too far. But there ain't much time left before it will be.

[Peter Friedman]

I have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner every evening. They are essential (for me and my wife) in making the dinner a completely enjoyable part of our day.

I endorse that old saying:

A day without wine....have no idea what that is?

[gmonahan]

On 2/23/2022 at 8:50 AM, JSngry said:

I haven't no. Drinking, smoking, and drugs are all just things I used to do, and when I quit something, be it person, place, or thing, I just totally quit. Done with it.

Trying to do the same thing with sweets right now, but...might be my downfall, that one. We'll see. Just turned 66, so it's not like it's gone too far. But there ain't much time left before it will be.

Word.

 

 

gregmo

[Gheorghe]

Several couples of wine ? Would it make hard for me to speak and move and thing coherently. 

About quitting everything, quitting to have one beer on friday evening, refusing to smoke a cigarette to my morning coffee, after dinner and after makin love, refusing to eat a little piece of ciocolată if I feel I would like to taste something sweet....., 
It´s just enjoying my day when I relax. 
Everything done to excess is a no go for me.

A good coffee, which I enjoy with smokin a cigarette.

A good dish

Maybe once on weekend, after driving home about 1,5 hour after fishing in the mountains...... a 0,3l beer, really cold...

Why should I "punish" myself ? 

But maybe I´m not a personality inclined to be an addict. I don´t like to do things to the excess, 

[Teasing the Korean]

I don't drink Monday through Thursday, but uncorking that bottle of wine on a Friday evening as the tone arm lowers onto the record is a cherished moment of the week for me.  The George Shearing Quintet records in particular were made to be paired with cocktails.

If I had to stop drinking entirely - and I have had long stretches in my adulthood in which I did not drink - I could do it.  But there would be certain moments when I would really miss it.  Playing an LP on a Friday night would be one.  Chopping garlic and onions for dinner prep would be another.  I associate these things with having a glass of wine. 

[Ken Dryden]

A writer who deserves his obscurity…what a pathetic review.

[Teasing the Korean]

26 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

A writer who deserves his obscurity…what a pathetic review.

Did you mean to post this in another thread?

[Gheorghe]

18 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

 

 

 Chopping garlic and onions for dinner prep would be another.  I associate these things with having a glass of wine. 

oh yes, we did that also, my wife and me. On the same occasions. We cook together and have joke-hassles who will be the chef cook (bucătar șef) and the "șef" would be the first to take a break and have a glass of wine 

[mikeweil]

5 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

oh yes, we did that also, my wife and me. On the same occasions. We cook together and have joke-hassles who will be the chef cook (bucătar șef) and the "șef" would be the first to take a break and have a glass of wine 

[Teasing the Korean]

7 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

oh yes, we did that also, my wife and me. On the same occasions. We cook together and have joke-hassles who will be the chef cook (bucătar șef) and the "șef" would be the first to take a break and have a glass of wine 

it sounds like there is a linguistic pun there that I'm not picking up on, but I catch your drift.